Peter Jackson expects ‘The Hobbit’ Oscar snub

Director complains that the Academy do not recognise his Tolkien fantasy epics

Peter Jackson has confessed that he expects the Oscars to snub The Hobbit.

The director is gearing up to release the first instalment of his three-part Tolkien prequel to The Lord Of The Rings. But he has said that while he expects his movie to be recognised in the technical categories, the Academy will not acknowledge his team elsewhere.

Jackson told Entertaintment Weekly: “I think we’ve got great possibilities in the below-the-line categories. Above the line, I don’t think so much. I wish it was a year where we could celebrate Ian McKellen as Supporting Actor, or Martin Freeman – or Andy Serkis, for that matter – as a Supporting Actor.

He added: “The acting awards seem to elude us, at least for these types of films. I don’t know why.”

Jackson has also expressed disappointment that Andy Serkis has never won an Academy Award for his CGI portrayal of Gollum. He said: “There’s a suspicion that somewhere between Andy and the finished result, other people are involved. Obviously there is a visual effects component; there is a CGI creature, and compositing and lighting and various things.

“But motion capture now is so well developed that every muscle in Andy’s face is replicated on Gollum’s face. And everything Andy does is accurately translated to Gollum. It is the closest thing to digital make-up.”

The third part of the Lord Of the Rings trilogy, ‘The Return Of The King’, won all 11 Oscars it was nominated for at the 2003 bash, including Best Picture and Best Director for Jackson.